Musings

I have noticed that if I can change the frame, the picture always looks quite different. I wonder what new and high tech specs or special eyewear can provide us with Buddha Vision. And more importantly, as my wife would want to know: How do they look on me?! How would Buddha see this is a good question to ask. Buddhism actually has some practices to help us see things through such a divine iye. My favorite practice of this kind is called Pure Perceptions. Cultivating this kind of sacred outlook -- dak-nang in Tibetan--helps us see the Buddha, the light, the divinity in everyone and everything,...

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A dog is good luck in soulful form. Love has taken away my practices and left me with a dog, to paraphrase Rumi. I used to be respectable, and chaste, holier than thou. Now I am a disciple of a dog. I wasn’t always a dog person. I did not grow up with dogs at home, but grew up chasing balls in the backyard myself. I was a puppy once, a veritable household legend, full of anxiety and an insatiable need to please. Now all that foolishness is gone. I don’t chase sticks and stones, but go right to the source and know the thrower. There were times before my great awakening that a dog meant no more...

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I am disappointed with the pontifications about karma that pundits have recently subjected us to in the media. December's tsunami is no ones fault and blame should not be ascribed to peoples or individuals, either individually or collectively. It seems uncompassionate to me to use on the victims of a natural disaster the whip of theories such as the law of karma -- a profound concept that is in any case mostly misunderstood, and often misapplied. Nor does God need to get a bad rap for it. These things happen. What we learn from it seems to me to be the main thing. It is extremely difficult for us to grok...

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May the lamp of love which eternally burns above kindle divine fire in our hearts and fan that innate spark of divinity into flame- illumining all, opening our eyes and consuming our differences, driving the shadows from our faces. As love dawns on the horizon, may our community awaken in the Kingdom of true communion which is at hand always. May we recognize ourselves in each other each in each- fellow pilgrims on this infinite journey- in truth in that light. May we learn to love one another better even than we love ourselves. May joy radiate. Amen.

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I love water. Fortunately water and I are already practically one, at least according to my doctor.I always feel peaceful harmony around water. Whenever I see water, meditation naturally happens. Sitting on the beach I don’t even have to try; it seems as if the waves do it for me, like an outer form of the inner tide of my breathing, washing everything away. Trying to close my eyes or concentrate there seems extra. Sit happens. The best time of my day is walking my dog around the lake near my house. I can tell she thinks so too, because she can’t wait to go. Actually, she always reminds me of that...

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I have been thinking a lot lately about acceptance, and how it actually changes things. For example: have you ever noticed how hard it is to change your mate, while a little more acceptance goes a long way towards transforming your relationship? Ultimately, I can change myself; that is about as far as it goes, although the ripple effect definitely filters further outwards. In a deeper sense, transforming myself transforms the world.Acceptance has its own transformative magic. It has helped me become far more patient, tolerant, empathic and open-minded. And lord knows, we could use a little more...

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